Rivalry Week

[ClubLubApp18’]

Why don’t we play Georgia Southern during the last regular season week of the year like most?

[AppRolls]

Because the league likes it as a Thursday night game and we’re not playing it on Thanksgiving.

[Appalachman]

GSU GSU rivalry is their plan and it has worked thus far. Coastal wasn’t competitive at last schedule adjustment and Troy was. Troy and S Ala have also been weeknight. LA schools play tomorrow. Ark st and Tex St also had no appeal on regional but that makes the most sense long term to so Carolinas, GA, AL, LA and the westerners. UL-Ark, GS-App, GS-Troy, App-Troy, App-UL provide good value mid season. Proximity would also help attendance somewhat on Thanksgiving weekend more than level of competition.

[mountaineerman]

Why don’t we play Georgia Southern during the last regular season week of the year like most?

No excuses it should be this week like all the rest.

[hotrod2001]

GSU GSU rivalry is their plan and it has worked thus far. Coastal wasn’t competitive at last schedule adjustment and Troy was. Troy and S Ala have also been weeknight. LA schools play tomorrow. Ark st and Tex St also had no appeal on regional but that makes the most sense long term to so Carolinas, GA, AL, LA and the westerners. UL-Ark, GS-App, GS-Troy, App-Troy, App-UL provide good value mid season. Proximity would also help attendance somewhat on Thanksgiving weekend more than level of competition.

You can't force a rivalry. There isn't a team currently in the conference that flares the nostrils like Georgia Southern does, the only other one that comes close is stAte and we don't play them every year and the disdain there is more along the line of "shut up Donnie, you're out of your element" than anything.

That game would have more meaning if it was played in Rivalry Week like all the other teams. Plus the loss we had to them wouldn't be seen so much as an "upset" by the national audience as it is a rivalry game which I have been harping about ever since, that game can go either way regardless of standing or record.

I personally hate that the SB game I'd go to the most is impossible because it's been in the middle of the work week for the last several years.

[AppinATL]

Why don’t we play Georgia Southern during the last regular season week of the year like most?

I’d rather not. Playing them on the last game of the year won’t give them the opportunity to wet the bed the following week if they should beat us.

[EastHallApp]

Serious question: For those of you who feel strongly about this, why does it matter so much?

Plenty of great rivalry games aren’t played on the last week. Oklahoma-Texas, Florida-Georgia, USC-Notre Dame, Bama-Tennessee, FSU-Miami, BYU-Utah... granted most of those teams have other (usually in-state) rivals they’re playing last, but those are still fierce, classic rivalries. Some are a bigger deal than the games played this week.

For that matter, App-GS has never been played at the end of the year, and it’s grown to this point. Just don’t see the big deal.

[AppBox]

Because we don’t want to get knocked out of the top 25 that late in the season

[shortfatoldapp]

It is correct that SOME big rivalries are played earlier omg the year. However, I would say that all of those teams play their BIGGEST rival this weekend, like it should be!

[AppinVA]

If we played GS in rivalry week, we’d probably be playing on Thanksgiving night.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I’m tired of having only a half week of preparation for an offense people say you need two weeks to prepare for. We need to schedule our open week, or at least a FCS tune-up, prior to that game if we are going to keep playing it on a Thursday.

[97APP]

My biggest issue is that we're annually forced to play an option team (that just happens to be our rival) on a short week. At least give us a bye week or play this game after our yearly Wednesday game.

[97APP]

If we played GS in rivalry week, we’d probably be playing on Thanksgiving night.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I’m tired of having only a half week of preparation for an offense people say you need two weeks to prepare for. We need to schedule our open week, or at least a FCS tune-up, prior to that game if we are going to keep playing it on a Thursday.

Sorry, didn't read your post until after I basically said the same thing.

[goapps93]

The bigger question is why is this week's game being played on Friday if it's not on TV?

[Yosef84]

It is correct that SOME big rivalries are played earlier omg the year. However, I would say that all of those teams play their BIGGEST rival this weekend, like it should be!

I can't really speak to the other games, but the Georgia / Florida game would probably qualify as the top rivalry for both teams in the modern era. It has very similar components to the App/GS game in that it almost always has conference/division implications and the teams hate each other. The UGA/GT game is a traditional rivalry (about like the App/WCU rivalry had become) but has very little heat anymore because Georgia has dominated it to the point that losing will put the coach on the hot seat (Georgia has won 15 of the last 18 games). It does provide a game where neither team has to do real "travel" during the holiday week so it does provide logistical advantages to both. I think the desire to avoid a long trip during the holiday week is a big driver for why this week developed into "rivalry" week (just my opinion). Unfortunately, we don't have a true "local" rival at this point.

[Stonewall]

If you ever played , you understand that afterwards you feel like you've been in a car wreck. Weeknight games should only be played after a bye.

[EastHallApp]

It is correct that SOME big rivalries are played earlier omg the year. However, I would say that all of those teams play their BIGGEST rival this weekend, like it should be!

I can't really speak to the other games, but the Georgia / Florida game would probably qualify as the top rivalry for both teams in the modern era. It has very similar components to the App/GS game in that it almost always has conference/division implications and the teams hate each other. The UGA/GT game is a traditional rivalry (about like the App/WCU rivalry had become) but has very little heat anymore because Georgia has dominated it to the point that losing will put the coach on the hot seat (Georgia has won 15 of the last 18 games). It does provide a game where neither team has to do real "travel" during the holiday week so it does provide logistical advantages to both. I think the desire to avoid a long trip during the holiday week is a big driver for why this week developed into "rivalry" week (just my opinion). Unfortunately, we don't have a true "local" rival at this point.

Agreed on UGA-Florida. Florida-FSU is also a huge rivalry, however I think Miami-FSU is at least as heated (and was the top rivalry in college football from the late '80s to mid-'90s). OU and Texas are pretty clearly each other's biggest rivals.

Really with a few exceptions (OSU-Michigan comes to mind), it's more like the in-state rivalries are the ones saved for the last week. Often those are also the biggest rivalries, but in some cases they've been surpassed by ones where the stakes are bigger or the teams are more evenly matched.

Case in point, at least from the time I was in school (late '90s), while App's "rival school" in the SoCon was ostensibly WCU, everyone understood that the real football rivalries were the midseason games against Furman and GS.

I do hate always playing GS on a short week and never getting to play them on Saturday anymore.

[huskie3]

Georgia Southern should always be 2:30 Saturday game.

[huskie3]

Georgia Southern should always be 2:30 Saturday game.

[biggie]

Much prefer a night game for GS, but Saturday. Remember the good days of Black Saturday for GS.

[t4pizza]

It is correct that SOME big rivalries are played earlier omg the year. However, I would say that all of those teams play their BIGGEST rival this weekend, like it should be!

I can't really speak to the other games, but the Georgia / Florida game would probably qualify as the top rivalry for both teams in the modern era. It has very similar components to the App/GS game in that it almost always has conference/division implications and the teams hate each other. The UGA/GT game is a traditional rivalry (about like the App/WCU rivalry had become) but has very little heat anymore because Georgia has dominated it to the point that losing will put the coach on the hot seat (Georgia has won 15 of the last 18 games). It does provide a game where neither team has to do real "travel" during the holiday week so it does provide logistical advantages to both. I think the desire to avoid a long trip during the holiday week is a big driver for why this week developed into "rivalry" week (just my opinion). Unfortunately, we don't have a true "local" rival at this point.

It really depends on the age of the fan as to what is perceived as UF's biggest rival. My wife attended UF starting in 86 (her dad in 68 and brother in 90) and they and everyone in that age group sees Georgia as the biggest rivalry. They all grew up at a time where FSU just didn't have the teams to really build and enhance a rivalry. However, you have an entire generation or two of folks that went to UF in the 90s and early 2000s that see FSU as the biggest rivalry game. All four of my kids have either graduated with at least one degree or are currently at UF and I would say they all feel that FSU is a bigger rival (I know because this is actually debated in my family between the younger and older fan base). I think a lot of that is fueled by the fact that it is another Florida school and everyone has friends or at least knows people that attended and or roots for the other school. The opportunity for smack talk is much greater and I think that has built the FSU game into a bigger rivalry game despite the fact that it has been sometime since both teams were at the top of the heap at the same time. As a side note, everyone that went to UF and FSU do have one thing in common, they all got into FSU. Stuff like that just fuels the flames.